2007 DST time changes
WARNING; This is a long article with a compilation of many
details. As always, contact your trusted IT adviser for assistance in any of
these areas!
Does it feel like winter is over yet?? Well one thing is for
sure, Daylight Saving’s Time (DST) is coming up sooner than you might expect.
US Congress passed a law in 2005 that goes into effect this year,
which changes the dates when we switch to and away from DST. Many electronic devises automatically adjust
for DST based on the old rules. Now
they’ll need to be updated since DST starts earlier (March 11 instead of April
1), and ends later (November 4 instead of October 28) than in the past.
So how does this impact me?
Many electronic devices are affected. Some may normally automatically adjust for DST, but now they may not update correctly based on the new rules. Specifically regarding our computers and network, there are various operating systems and programs involved that may need to be adjusted or patched.
Microsoft released several tools to update your systems, some will be downloaded as part of monthly patches, some will not. We will be addressing where to find these tools here, but don’t forget your other vendors like your firewall, Router, Dell Open Manage, etc, that may not be based on Microsoft software.
As always, contact your trusted IT adviser for assistance in any of these areas!
TIP: Before making any changes or applying any patches, advise users to include the appointment time in either the description or appointment notes for appointments during the DST change window (from March 11 to April 1 and November 4 to October 28).
The central page related to the Microsoft tools and KB articles is at
http://www.microsoft.com/dst2007
This site is continuously updated with the latest information related to Microsoft patches.
First of all; timing is important. Due to the different changes in different areas that relate to the local time, it is best to develop a plan for all changes, and execute the plan in a short order, preferable over a period when users will not be adding appointments to reduce the risk that users will create appointments with a mix of patched and un-patched clients or applications.
Before updating any calendar appointments it is critical
that you update all clients or applications first, including Windows Mobile
devices, to make sure that an un-patched client does not change an appointment back
to their original time.
- Operating System patch details and downloads for XP and 2003 server products can be found at KB Article 931836.
- Information on how to update prior versions can be found at KB Article 914387
Clients that are affected by the DST change:
- Outlook 2000 and Office Outlook 2003 get their time zone information from the Operating System, but they will not automatically adjust existing calendar information for the DST changes after the Operating System is updated.
- If you are already running the new Outlook 2007 it already understands the new DST dates, and it includes a tool that can rearrange existing appointments.
- All versions of Windows Mobile.
- The latest Entourage 2004 for Mac updates (11.3.4) does not have to be patched, but Mac OS X does. Earlier releases of Entourage, including Microsoft Entourage X, cannot be patched to adjust for the new DST dates.
Exchange stores an appointment time using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and the local time of the appointment is calculated using the time zone of the computer in which the appointment was created. It is difficult to adjust the time of these appointments automatically during a time change.
There are two basic ways that you can update users' calendar data:
- End users can use the Outlook rebasing tool to move appointments on their calendars. We recommend this, users have the best visibility to acknowledge whether an appointment change should be made or not. Details are addressed in KB article 931667. Basically, the tool scans for appointments that fall between the new and old DST dates and adjusts their start times with user acknowledgement.
- On the server / Exchange side, there is a ‘wrapper’ for this tool that will update calendar items without user approval, or the chance to override to tool. This tool is described in KB article 930879. Since it does use Outlook, and it is not advised to run Outlook on an Exchange server, this tool should run from a network PC. Note: This tool is single-threaded, for a large user base this will take a long time to run.
Both tools can be set to either update ALL appointments in the DST change window, or only update recurring appointments.
There is of course a third alternative, to do nothing and manually clean up your agenda. This is probably going to happen at many smaller businesses, especially if there are not many appointments. This could be disruptive if users rely on their calendars and are not properly informed and trained.
For more information, check out this overview of available web-casts:
Available Now: Web Cast/Live Meeting Replay from February 22, 2007 session:
An overview of DST, Microsoft resources, impacted products, updates and tools. There is guidance for small and medium businesses, as well as a lengthy discussion on remediation efforts for large businesses and a focus on the Exchange Time Zone Data Update Tool. Click this link to view this web cast now:
Upcoming webcasts
Microsoft DST team members walk through new information on the updates and tools to help businesses prepare for the transition to daylight saving time. The company's best subject matter experts will host an open Q & A forum. These sessions are targeted toward IT Professionals.
This session is offered live on multiple dates, each beginning at 12:00P.M. Pacific Time:
· Tuesday, February 27 - To register, visit: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032331070&Culture=en-US
· Thursday, March 1 - To register, visit:http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032331071&EventCategory=2&culture=en-US
NOTE: Sessions for March 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12 will be posted shortly.
Available Now: Other Web Cast/Live Meeting Replays:
Deploying Microsoft Windows 2000 updates for daylight saving time changes for worldwide use (Level 300; Thursday, 18 January, 2007)
· http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=930688
Support WebCast: The impact of daylight saving time on Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office Outlook (Level 200; Friday, February 2, 2007)
· http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932046
Microsoft IT shares practices to deploy changes for daylight saving time in 2007
· https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents/view?id=msft021307dtE&pw=WG987Aamp;cn
Since Dell is widely used, a quick note regarding Dell OpenManage:
http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=pes_win2003&thread.id=5795
Problem: OpenManage applications and new 2007 U.S. Daylight Savings rules Description: The following OpenManage applications contain a version of Java Runtime Engine (JRE) that does not contain proper time change information for 2007 U.S. Daylight Savings which first occurs on March 12, 2007:
Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA)
Dell OpenManage IT Assistant (ITA)
Dell PowerEdge Updates (System Update Utility)
Solution: Dell recommends downloading the JDK US DST Timezone Update
Tool
1.0 from Sun's website: